New grill in the neighborhood

We welcomed a new grill into the family over the weekend:

Isn't she a beauty? As you might know from past blog posts and Facebook updates, we like to grill. Well, James likes to grill, and Aidan and I like to eat what James prepares on the grill. After many years of faithful service and two moves, our old grill was falling apart and not working so well. As near as we can determine, we owned the old grill for thirteen years, maybe even fourteen, so we definitely made a good investment when we purchased it. But it was time to bid it fond adieu and see it start a new life with someone else:

Yesterday was the inaugrill dinner on the new Weber:

Those are ribeye steaks, corn on the cob (in foil), pierogies and a twice baked potato for Aidan, who does not yet appreciate the goodness of pierogies. Although almost all of the credit goes to the grillmaster, the new grill made a successful debut. And a good meal was had by all!

So so

Honestly, June was a mixed bag in regards to meeting my goals. I did much better about not having snacking between meals and also did a better job of limiting my portions at meals...well, except for any meals that involved gravy. But with the flurry of end of school activities, school getting out and James being gone for five days, I did not do so well on the walking: I only walked ten times this month, far short of the three times per week goal.

On to July. Same three health related goals, and I have to work harder on getting the walking done in the mornings even with Aidan home from school. At least with the weather being warmer, I eat less, so the snacking and portion control should be fairly easy to achieve.

Unfortunately, I have lost my knitting mojo in the last few weeks. Once the flurry of getting gifts completed was over, I fell out of like with knitting. Usually I kick start my knitting passion with a new project but this time I am balancing it against my desire to finish a project that has been in progress for months.I bought a skein of Lhasa Wilderness yarn from Bijou Basin Ranch just to try out knitting with Yak down (the yarn is 75% Yak down and 25% bamboo). It is hard to imagine that such a soft fiber comes from such a large, fierce looking animal! I do like knitting with it and I like the pattern, so I can't really explain why the project has languished; it might be due to the fact that there was no deadline for completing it.

So I am now setting a deadline for completion: July 31. I am quite sure that I will give the scarf to a friend as a birthday gift and having it complete before the event would be wonderful. And until the scarf is complete, I am not casting on another project - that is my line in the sand to get this project done.